Lies and Daggers
by parkitcharlie
Summary: Claudia can't shake the feeling that she's not the only one who isn't telling the truth.


**A/N: What do you mean I am a week late posting this? That's crazy. You should stop thinking about it and read this story now...**

* * *

Claudia wasn't quite sure why, but Hugo reminded her of Joshua.

Maybe it was the way they both dressed. Maybe it was the fact that they had both "disappeared" because of an artifact. Maybe it was because they both tried so hard to do their best but too often they rushed into things.

Thinking about it now, Claudia realized there were a lot of similarities between Joshua and Hugo. In fact they'd probably get along quite well. Dismissing the thought for now, she moved over to her desk and opened her laptop. She never liked to think about Joshua for too long, it made her miss him, and missing him just reminded her of all those years she thought he was dead.

So she let her mind wander eventually settling on something odd that had happened earlier in the day. Why did she stop breathing?

Perhaps it had something to do with the marbles, though she doubted that. No one else had shown the same symptoms. Stress wasn't unlikely considering all that she'd been through lately. She actually wouldn't be surprised if anyone in the team had a panic attack considering recent events.

The whole thing though had been pretty random. Just suddenly she couldn't breathe. And on top of that she had to talk down Hugo and convince him he was doing the right thing.

Just like that Claudia was thinking of Joshua again. It was then that she realized she had just been staring blankly at her log in screen this whole time. With a sigh she closed it, realizing now she would get nothing done. Frowning she leaned back in her desk chair and stared at the ceiling. After a while she spaced out her mind racing, too fast for her to even know what she was thinking about. After several minutes Trailer came in and nudged her effectively snapping her out of her trance.

"Hey, Tray, what's up with you?" She asked the dog scratching behind his ears. He jumped up putting his paws on her lap and licked her face before trotting out of the room happily. His only reason for coming in to her room was seemingly making sure she was still alive. She listened to his nails click on the wood floor as he walked away. Glancing at the clock Claudia decided it was time for a snack, her stomach seconded the motion.

Claudia wandered into the hallway eyes on the ground. It was becoming quite clear that she needed a legitimate distraction unless she wanted to keep thinking a mile a minute. As if on cue, she bumped into a very distracted Artie. The papers he had been holding flew in every direction and instantly he dropped to the ground to pick them up.

"Sorry, didn't see you there big guy." Claudia said rubbing her arm. "Need a hand?"

Artie's head shot up. "No thank you, I am just fine!" He grumbled snatching up the last of the papers. Claudia took a step back and raised her hands.

"Someone is a bit of a grouch today." Artie adjusted his glasses and stood holding the crumpled papers in his hand. "What do you have there, Oscar?" She joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"It's nothing! Just some boring inventory reports and such…" He pushed up his glasses again. "You need to be paying more attention to where you are going." He added pointedly.

"I was! Sort of…" She mumbled dropping her eyes to the floor. Artie tilted his head slightly.

"Everything good?" He asked shuffling the papers into a more organized fashion.

Claudia wasn't quite sure that everything was good actually. Lately she had been getting random aches and pains. The other night she felt as if she banged her knee against the table despite there not being one around. But she hated to worry Artie, especially if it turned out that it was nothing, so she lied.

"Dandy." She smiled and began to move past him. "Well, I'm half starved, so good luck with your boring paperwork." Artie nodded holding up the slightly wrinkled papers and continuing down the hall to his room.

Claudia could shake the feeling that she hadn't been the only one not telling the truth.

* * *

The Black Diamond. Artie had no idea how, but they'd broken into the Warehouse and they had sent an artifact out into the world. They hadn't left any clue as to how, just a stupid black diamond in the place of where an artifact should be.

So know he had two things to worry about. The dagger had been his number one priority, and of course it still was, but if Brother Adrian was undoing his life's work there would be repercussions. Some of the things he'd snagged in his time were quite dangerous, even by Warehouse standards.

On his way out of the Warehouse he grabbed what they had on the dagger. There wasn't much about what it did or where it came from, just a description and a couple of pages on possible first owners and effects. It was hardly anything to go off, but at the least it was a start.

He planned on reviewing the information in his room back at the B&B, he did not plan on bumping into someone on his way there though.

"Sorry, didn't see you there big guy." Artie had to admit her timing was amusing. It would probably be even more amusing if he didn't suspect she might one day try and stab him with a dagger. "Need a hand?" As much as he'd rather not be crawling about on the floor picking up papers like some flustered teenager in a corny TV show, Artie knew Claudia couldn't know about the dagger.

"No thank you, I am just fine!" He grumbled picking himself off the ground with the papers clenched in his fists.

"Someone is a bit of a grouch today." He adjusted his glasses as Claudia went on. "What do you have there, Oscar?"

"It's nothing! Just some boring inventory reports and such…" He trailed off trying to think of a way to redirect her focus. "You need to be paying more attention to where you are going." Claudia's expression turned sheepish and she suddenly became quite interested in her shoes.

"I was! Sort of…" She mumbled kicking the ground. Artie tilted his head in concern. Claudia had seemed slightly distant since Steve's return and it worried him now more than it normally would.

"Everything good?" He asked softly. Claudia looked up at him, silent for a while before answering.

"Dandy." She pushed past him towards the stairs "Well, I'm half starved, so good luck with your boring paperwork." Artie watched her leave giving her a nod and a wave, and then he moved to his bedroom as quickly as he could.

Now more than ever he knew that dagger needed to be found.

**A/N: So...that's that then! You know what would be great? If you clicked on that review button and told me how you feel...**


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